Police Corner Sunrise Blvd. Sniper

January 16, 1986|By Michael Connelly, Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — A heavily armed man, believed distraught over his eviction from an apartment, was holed up this morning in a Sunrise Boulevard auto dealership after firing several shots into the street, police said.

``So far we have no one hurt,`` said police spokesman Ott Cefkin.

The man, who police did not identify, was in the Alpine Motors showroom at 1700 E. Sunrise. Police blocked off Sunrise between Northeast 15th Avenue and 17th Terrace after the shooting began about 4 a.m. All the streets in between were closed for one block on both sides of Sunrise and some homes and businesses were evacuated.

Traffic remained blocked well into the morning rush hour.

``There were a number of shots fired inititially,`` Cefkin said. ``He was just shooting. It doesn`t appear he was actually shooting at anybody. We believe he is heavily armed.``

In a yard near the dealership police found a U.S. Army issue weapon that appears to be some type of grenade launcher, Cefkin said. It was believe to have been dropped by the gunman before he broke into the dealership.

Police set up a command post in a 16th Terrace home that was evacuated and a police officer trained in hostage-type situations had contacted the gunman by telephone and was attempting to negotiate his surrender.

Meanwhile, police officers, including several detectives and SWAT team officers, were watching the dealership from several locations in the area and reported seeing the man walking around inside in what was described as an agitated manner, often standing up and then sitting down.

``He is distraught over some kind of a problem,`` Cefkin said. ``He was just evicted from his apartment. We think he set fire to it.``

The Fire Department was called to an apartment conmplex at 905 NE 17th Ave. at 4:12 a.m. to extinguish a fire where two men had been evicted earlier. The apartment is less than a block from Sunrise Boulevard.

Shortly after the fire was reported, the shooting began.

Brian Maher, 26, of Davie, said he was riding his motorcycle east on Sunrise when a police car sped passed him, and then he heard shots.

``I heard pop, and then the crash of glass, and then pop, pop, pop,`` Maher said. ``I just ditched my bike right in the middle of the road and ran. I got to a pay phone and called 911. I told the police they had a shootout going here and they said `We know.` ``

Maher couldn`t get back to his motorcycle because it was in the line of fire. He said a police officer, using his patrol car to shield him, escorted him to the bike so he could retrieve it and leave the area.

After that police evacuated a 7-Eleven store that was open and directly across the street from the dealership. A few nearby homes were also evacuated.

David Arabian, 29, who just moved into the apartment complex where the fire occurred, wasn`t evacuated, he was rescued.

He said that when he was awakened by the fire at another apartment at his complex, he decided to walk over to the nearby 7-Eleven for coffee. He was walking down the side of the Alpine Motors property when the shooting began.

``All of a sudden the police started yelling ``Hit the ground! Hit the ground!` `` Arabian said. ``I said `Me?` They said `You!` ``

Arabian hit the ground and later crawled to the safety of a patrol car that drove to his rescue.